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Pit Spitters, Northern Michigan Pod Season Paused After Players Test Positive for COVID-19

The Traverse City Pit Spitters and the Northwoods League’s Northern Michigan Pod season has been put on hold after players among the three teams in Traverse City have tested positive for COVID-19.

The organization plans to restart the 2020 season on Friday, July 10.

In a statement, the organization says:

“We have had some positive COVID-19 tests with players on the teams and in consultation with the Grand Traverse County Health Department we have determined that pausing the season for additional testing and a reassessment of the schedule is the best course of action at this time,” said Pit Spitters General Manager Mickey Graham. “We knew that this was going to be a challenging environment to play baseball in and safety has been our driving force. That is why we test the players and coaches, screen multiple times each day and that is why we kept the teams in the bubble, eliminated fan interaction and keep them from the community at large.”

“We’re constantly looking at our plans and had revised them based on the circumstances. Our Readiness Plan was created with player and fan safety as our number one concern. We maintain social distancing requirements, our fans are fantastic about wearing masks and following guidelines, but unfortunately the on the field component now has some uncertainty around it and has forced us to regroup.”

The Pit Spitters and the Northern Michigan Pod kicked off the 2020 season on Wednesday, July 1, with a reduced seating capacity of 500 fans.

“There are not a lot of leagues playing right now, and that’s for good reason, it’s an incredibly uncertain operational environment. We feel bringing baseball back for our fans and our community is important and that is why we took this challenge on. Seeing the excitement on opening day in light of how tough the last four months have been for everyone was incredibly rewarding,” said Pit Spitters CEO Joe Chamberlin in a statement. “We are confident that we can navigate through this and restart, with the safety of players, fans and our staff as our primary decision-making criteria.”

The Pit Spitters plan to release a revised schedule in the upcoming days.

Fans who have purchased tickets for the canceled games are asked to hold on to those tickets.

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